2003 July

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To our faithful supporters and prayer warriors—thank you for being faithful. Some of you add special notes to your gifts and we want you to know that we always enjoy hearing from you. We also thank those of you who have been helping us by sending out Bible lessons and adding names and addresses into the computer for us. God has given us some of the greatest people.

16 years ago the idea of seeing any of our family members get saved seemed almost too bleak to accept at times. Each day we would pray (and do continue to pray) that God would open the eyes of our dad, mom, brothers and sisters to the free gift of salvation through Christ. About 5 years ago one brother came to Christ and got baptized. Then another one got saved and baptized. Then 3 sisters got saved. And then another brother, Perry, got saved and last month my pastor allowed me the honor to baptize him. Perry has been very faithful in coming to church and so have my brothers William and Johnny. There are 14 of us brothers and sisters, plus dad and mom.

May 31st of this year was probably one of the greatest days I’ve had since I began my walk with Christ. It was the day that I was ordained into the ministry. I had spent many hours preparing to give answers to questions such as: “What do you believe about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation, heaven, hell, etc?” This all took place at my home church as 10-preachers questioned me for 4-hours. The whole process allowed me to become more confident in the Faith.

I was given the opportunity during the evening service to honor 4 people that have impacted my spiritual life the most since my walk with Christ. (First) it was my privilege to honor my Pastor of 15 years. We figured up that he has probably preached at least 2,000 messages to me over the past 15 years. Without a doubt, Pastor John has been our strongest supporter in the MAP Ministry. (Second) 16 years ago Esther and I moved into Jerry & Carol’s basement just long enough to get on our own feet and ever since then we have considered each other family. Words could not describe what they have meant to us and our kids over the years. (Third) My wife Esther has definitely loved, supported, and stood beside me many times during our 16 years of marriage and for that I honored her. I gave each one a plaque with mine and their photo on it along with a special poem called, “You Are My Hero”. Praise God for those who love and support us even when it was not easy.

When Jonathan was 4-yrs old (9-yrs ago) we bought him a poodle. Jonathan named him George and they soon became best of friends. They always slept together at night and it was not uncommon to see the two going on a walk or sitting on the couch playing and talking together. That all ended when George ran out in front of a car several weeks ago and was killed. After our family had mourned for a while we picked ourselves up and buried him out on our property where we plan on building a house soon. I never knew that it could be so hard to let go of a pet, but a person can sure become attached to them.

It is always good to get together with the former Amish guys in the area. This year about 35 of us guys got together over Memorial Day and had a cook out at our place, then we all took off and drove out to the country to shoot clay pigeons. We’ve had several more young folks leave the Amish again lately. Our burden becomes greater and greater to see them get saved and live for God. Several weeks ago my brother William and I took off and traveled to the southern part of Ohio where we rented a cabin at the Hocking Hills State Park for 5-days and just spent some time praying, fasting, and reading the Bible. I felt like Nehemiah when he said, O LORD, I BESEECH THEE, LET NOW THINE EAR BE ATTENTIVE TO THE PRAYER OF THY SERVANT, AND TO THE PRAYER OF THY SERVANTS, WHO DESIRE TO FEAR THY NAME...NEH. 1:11. A small group of about 12 have been meeting to pray on Tuesday nights.

Conewango Baptist Church sits right in the middle of a very large Amish community in Conewango Vly, NY. Our family had been invited by Pastor Matt Austin to share the MAP Ministry with his church two years ago and then earlier this year we were invited to come back and teach a seminar on how to reach the Amish people for Christ. Well, several weeks ago I received an email from Pastor Austin telling me how they have been spreading God’s Word to the Conewango Vly Amish Community. I asked him if he would let me share parts of his email and he said yes. My heart was blessed and encouraged as I read his email and I think it will also encourage those of you who have been reaching out with the same kind of desire.

Dear Joe and Esther,
I wanted to let you know how things went this past Saturday and what the Lord is doing in our midst. Some may consider it a small thing while others may even look down upon what we did Saturday as meaningless, but I will tell you that God is opening doors!

We...went in pairs. Our intent was to not look like salesmen with three piece suits…[but]...look "normal" not sloppy; neat and yet unpresuming.

We didn't initially tell them that we were from Conewango Baptist but did tell them that we were their neighbors ...we were given free copies of John's Gospel and wanted to pass the gift on to them. (The first two pages have the clear plan of salvation in the front and then verses underlined all the way through the booklet of John and then a decision page at the end of the booklet.)

One man who makes buggy wheels told me after he received his copy all about his trade and where he gets his parts and so on. As we left Mr. Shettler's place we glanced back toward his shop and saw him reading.

The people Sunday night were sharing what a blessing the outreach was to them personally and how it deepened their burden afresh for the neighbors. ——Pastor Matt Austin